ea-in-a-“incredible-position”-on-their-own,-but-ceo-“open”-to-changes-amidst-sale-rumors

The online game trade is deep into an period of consolidation, with even large boys like Activision Blizzard and Bethesda being wolfed up, so what may the long run hold for Electronic Arts? We not too long ago heard rumors that EA is “persistently pursuing a sale,” with the likes of Disney/ESPN, Apple, and Amazon being approached.

Unsurprisingly, EA has declined to touch upon these rumors, however right this moment in the course of the firm’s Q1 2023 earnings name, the query of whether or not they plan to stay a “standalone” firm was put on to CEO Andrew Wilson. While Wilson largely used his reply to boast concerning the “incredible position” EA finds itself in as an unbiased firm, he did admit he’s open to that place altering…

“I think we’re in an incredible position. We’re soon to be the largest standalone independent developer and publisher of interactive media in the world. I think we have the most incredible teams in our industry and we’re attracting more and more incredible talent. We have a community that’s 600 million strong and certainly we’re well on our way to our aspirations to be able to engage a billion people in play across the planet. […] I don’t think we could be in a stronger position as a standalone company. Our objective is always to take care of our people, our players, and our shareholders, and should there ever be a way for us to do that differently than the way we’re doing it today, I of course have to be open to that. But, I’ll tell you today, that we feel very, very confident and excited for our future.”

Plenty of company converse there, however my studying of Wilson’s assertion is “We don’t have to sell, but make me an offer.” If someone does make that supply, it should be a giant one – whereas a lot of the trade is down in comparison with final 12 months, EA was up 12 p.c year-on-year in Q1 on the power of FIFA 22, F1 22, and Apex Legends. And issues are seemingly solely going to get stronger.

What do you assume? Does EA promote finally? Or do they content material themselves with being the “largest independent publisher of interactive media in the world”?

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